Mourinho jokes about De Gea following heroic performance against Arsenal

Despite David De Gea’s heroics during Manchester United’s victory over Arsenal on Saturday, Mourinho has refused to call his main goalkeeper ‘the best’ in his Champions League pre-match press conference.

Asked whether he has worked with a better keeper than De Gea, Mourinho mischievously responded:

“Yes, Romero. Because he plays tomorrow and my goalkeeper is always the best keeper in the world.

“So now David is the third best. Romero is number one and Joel [Pereira] number two, and David is the third best.”

De Gea helped United pull the rabbit out of the hat against Arsenal on Saturday when the Gunners made 16 shots on target, 14 of which the Spaniard saved. The Red Devils won the match 3-1 in a match that saw them possess the ball for only 25% of the time.

On a more serious note, the Portuguese said after the extraordinary victory: “I told [De Gea] after the match that what I saw today was the best goalkeeper in the world.

“Big matches need goalkeepers to be there for you, when the team needs them, but I think [from] all of our players, the effort was magnificent.”

United will look to secure their first position in Champions League Group A when they play hosts to CSKA Moscow tomorrow night.

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